KESTREL, 
163 
cause of tlie parent hare’s gallant attack on the 
Hawk. It was wounded on the side of the head, 
and was bleeding, hut the gentleman left it in a 
furrow, hoping that the wound might not prove 
fatal, and that the mother might find it and reap the 
reward of her maternal attachment. 
It may seem extraordinary that they should pre^ 
sume to meddle with living things of their own 
size and weight, hut it is still more remarkable that 
they should occasionally wage successful warfare 
with birds still larger than themselves, as for instance 
with the Jay. Not long ago, some hoys observed a 
Hawk flying after a Jay, which, on reaching, it im- 
mediately attacked, and both fell on a stubble-field, 
where the contest appeared to be carried on ; the 
hoys hastened up, hut too late to save the poor Jay, 
which was at the last gasp ; in the agonies of death, 
however, it had contrived to infix, and entangle its 
claws so firmly in the Hawk’s feathers, that the 
latter, unable to escape, was carried off by the boys, 
who brought it home, when on examination it 
proved to be a Kestrel. The Sparrow-hawk of North 
America, ( Falco sparverius^) which is more nearly 
allied to the Kestrel than ours, is often known to 
attack the Blue Jay of that country. No wonder 
that Jays have a great dislike to this Hawk, and 
never fail to annoy it by every means in their power. 
Sometimes they will follow in order to plague it, at 
other times, they, by imitating its note, will deceive 
and draw it from its haunts. In return for all this 
abuse, the Hawk now and then revenges itself by 
killing and eating the fattest of its persecutors. 
Rapid as is the flight of these birds of prey, and 
